So I went and got the smartest guy in Product Marketing—not in Engineering, mind you, but Marketing. And that’s how Don Rodner became the first Product Owner. He knew the product we were making not from a technical point of view—although he understood enough of that to communicate with the engineers—but, rather, from a customer point of view. What did the people who were actually using the product need? When you’re picking a Product Owner, get someone who can put themselves in the mind of whoever is getting value from what you’re doing.
